Tobolsk

“ The Irtish also receives from the west a large tributary, the Tobol, and at the confluence stands the town of Tobolsk.
One day passes after another, and one night after another rises up blue and cold from the east. We have left every mountain and hill behind us, and the boundless plains, like a frozen sea, lie buried under deep snow. Sometimes we travel for a whole hour without seeing a farm or village. Only occasionally do we see to the north a small patch of taiga, or the Siberian coniferous forest, silent and dark. ”

“ Young proceeded to point out on the map of Tobolsk, the location of the chief cities of the Russian province:—Tobolsk, with a population of twenty thousand, four hundred and twenty-seven, situated at exactly the latitude of Fort Vermilion on Peace river; and Omsk, on the line of the great Siberian Railway, with a population of thirty-seven thousand, four hundred and seventy, situated at a spot corresponding with a point ten miles north of Athabaska, and about a hundred miles north of Edmonton. ”

“ Those made by Laferme under the name of “Petits canons,” are the best, and are to be bought almost everywhere throughout the Russian Empire, from Kiakhta to Petersburg, Archangel to Merv. They are a beautifully made cigarette, and the price (one rouble a hundred) is reasonable enough.
The approach to Tobolsk is picturesque. One felt, on looking at the villages in the suburbs, with their green church spires and neat whitewashed houses, large fields, and grazing-grounds, enclosed by neat wooden railings, that one was indeed approaching civilization. ”

“ Its importance has greatly diminished since the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Its chief industries are fishing and fur-making. Tobolsk was founded in 1587 and is one of the oldest Russian settlements in Siberia. ”

“ Before their arrival at Tobolsk the convicts are, however, liable to be detained by the authorities of Kasan or Perm, for the public works, in their respective governments.
It is as the land of political exile that Siberia is generally known, and that it has gained so unenviable a reputation among the liberty-loving nations of Europe, whose imagination pictures it to them as a vast unredeemable desert, whose icy atmosphere chills the breath of life, and petrifies the soul. ”

“ The population is almost stationary (20,130 in 1883, as against 15,500 in 1839 and 15,200 in 1772) . Some 12 miles to the south east are the ruins of the "fort of Kutchum,"—the seat of the capital of Siberia, Isker, before the Russian conquest.
Tobolsk was founded in 1587 by 500 Cossacks who left Tyumeñ under Tchulkoff, and built a wooden fort at the mouth of the Old Toboł. During the next fifteen years several other forts were erected on the territory now occupied by Tobolsk. ”

“ While going and returning I have often seen people cross themselves or fall on their knees as Their Majesties passed. On the whole, the inhabitants of Tobolsk were still very attached to the Imperial family, and our guards had repeatedly to intervene to prevent them standing under the windows or removing their hats and crossing themselves as they passed the house. ”

“ Moscow, August 22.—It is reported from Tobolsk that an important discovery of diamond fields has been made amongst the spurs of the Ural Mountains, at a point not very far from that city. They are said to have been found by an English geologist, who has exhibited many magnificent gems in proof of his assertion. These stones have been examined at Tobolsk, and are pronounced to be equal, if not superior, in quality to any found elsewhere. A company has been already formed for the purpose of purchasing the land and working the mines. ”

“ A shadowy fear—a dim suspicion of Krusenstern, the commandant of the castle at Tobolsk, on account of his attentions to Kathinka, had sprung up in his bosom, before he left that place, and by degrees it had grown into an active feeling of distrust and jealousy. He knew the man to be profligate and base, capable of carrying into execution any wickedness his heart might suggest. ”

“ Away, as far as the eye could reach, nothing was visible but the broad plain of dazzling whiteness, and the grey, snow-laden sky, when suddenly we came to a tall, square, brick-built obelisk, bearing on one side the arms of the European province of Perm, and on the other those of the Asiatic province of Tobolsk. It was the boundary-post of that great lonely prison-land, Siberia.
No other boundary-mark in the world has witnessed so much human suffering, or, according to Mr. George Kennan, has been passed by such a multitude of heart-broken people. ”

“ He shrugged his shoulders; and gloomy, indifferent to the cigar ash which covered his chest and thighs, he plunged into the reading of his paper.
His eyes fell on these lines:
“We learn that a fire having broken out in a faubourg of Tobolsk, sixty wooden houses have fallen a prey to the flames. In consequence of the disaster more than a hundred families are homeless and starving.”
As he read this, M. le préfet Worms-Clavelin emitted a deep shout, something like a triumphal growl, and, aiming a kick at the jeweller’s desk:
232 “I say, Rondonneau, Tobolsk is a Russian town, isn’t it?” ”

“ However, the loyal Cossacks of the government of Tobolsk were advancing by forced marches towards Tomsk, in the hope of cutting off the Tartar columns.
At midnight the town of Novo-Saimsk was reached; and the travelers now left behind them the country broken by tree-covered hills, the last remains of the Urals.
Here began the regular Siberian steppe which extends to the neighborhood of Krasnoiarsk. It is a boundless plain, a vast grassy desert; earth and sky here form a circle as distinct as that traced by a sweep of the compasses. ”

“ Tobolsk is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants, situated on the Irtish river, a little sluggish stream that drains, or partially drains one of the great marshes of eastern Siberia. The town is built on a marsh, and the mosquitoes which breed there are said to be of a size and a ferocity unequaled elsewhere. Malaria haunts the miasmas of the marshy forests that stretch for miles around the town and line the river banks. The nearest railroad is 300 versts distant. In winter, which endures eight months of the year, the place is shut off from the world. ”

“ With them he went all the way from Tobolsk to the Polish provinces, making mirth for the lieges. He was arrested there on some charge unknown to me, and then, because he had no passport, sent back on foot to Tobolsk as a vagabond, together with a gang of convicts. His mother was now a widow and living in extreme poverty; he rebuilt the stove in her house with his own hands, when it came to pieces. He had to seek a trade of some kind; the boy learned to read and write and got employment as a clerk in the town office. Naturally quick-witted, he had profited by the variety of his experience ”

“ Pestel was succeeded at Tobolsk by Kaptsevitch, a pupil of Arakchéyev. Thin and bilious, a tyrant by nature 312and a restless martinet, he introduced military discipline everywhere; but, though he fixed maximum prices, he left all ordinary business in the hands of the robbers. In 1824 the Tsar intended to visit Tobolsk. Throughout the Government of Perm there is an excellent high road, well worn by traffic; it is probable that the soil was favourable for its construction. Kaptsevitch made a similar road all the way to Tobolsk in a few months. ”

“ I came back and Tatischeff said to me that the following persons were leaving Tobolsk: the emperor, the empress, the Grand Duchess Maria, Botkin, Dolgoruky, Tchemodouroff, Sedneff, the waiter, and Demidova, the maid. When I reported the names to Iakovleff he answered: “It’s all the same to me.” I suppose Iakovleff’s only idea was to get the emperor out of Tobolsk as soon as possible. When he noticed the emperor’s unwillingness to go alone, Iakovleff thought: “That’s all the same to me; let him take whom he likes; but do it quickly.” ”

“ One young man, a foreigner from Tobolsk, encouraged by her bravos at his performances, did propose; but was indignantly refused. Old Mrs. Liner, who was a little à la Malaprop, said, crimson with rage, that she 'wouldn't make use of him as a foot-pad.' Had the youth from Tobolsk asked a few years later, he would have been accepted. A man can carry off any single woman, if he only chooses the right time. Drowning men are said to catch at straws. It may be so. We have never witnessed a drown, and cannot say: but spinsters about sinking into the vast profound of old-maidism do catch at straw men. ”

“ Lakes are very numerous and some of them are salty. The climate is continental and severe, the average annual temperature varying from 24° at Berezov (q.v.) in the north to about 32° at Tobolsk in the south. The immigration into Tobolsk has latterly been very strong, and some parts in the south are as densely populated as any rural part of European Russia. The agricultural holdings are comparatively large, and considerable quantities of grain are exported. Wheat and rye are the principal products. Dairying is a growing industry and the export of butter exceeds $1,500,000 per annum. ”

“ The same day at eleven o’clock in the evening, Captain Aksiouta came to me and reported that Iakovleff had assembled the detachment’s committee and announced his intention of taking the czar’s family out of Tobolsk. Iakovleff said that not only the emperor but also the whole family would have to leave. In the morning on the 12th of April Iakovleff came to me and said that according to the decision of “the central executive committee” he must take the family out of Tobolsk. I asked him: “Why?” and “What will you do with the czarevitch? He can not travel as he is sick.” ”

“ Mr. Kerensky did not dare to do it himself personally, as he used to say it repeatedly in Tsarskoye. No! Lies usually led him to other things: to give to the Family a "detachment of special destination" under Col. Kobylinsky (a fine man,—Emperor's A.D.C. during the Empire, and his jailer during the Republic!) and Monsieur Makarov, under whose command they all left for Tobolsk. I had to buy a map. Sorry to ascertain it, but I have always mixed up Tomsk, Tobolsk and Yakutsk. Which was which was a puzzle to me. We Russians must be proud of our perfect ignorance of Siberia. ”

“ At the beginning of the year 1826 Passek was permitted to return to Russia. It was winter weather, and it was a terrible business for so large a family to travel from Tobolsk without furs and without money; but exile becomes most unbearable when it is over, and they were longing to be gone. They contrived it somehow. The foster-mother of one of the children, a peasant woman, brought them her poor savings as a contribution, and only asked that they would take her too; the post-boys brought them as far as the Russian frontier for little payment or none at all ”

“ Siberian peasants are supremely ignorant. In 1894 the Government of Tobolsk, the most progressive of any in respect of education, numbered only 19,100 children frequenting the schools out of a population of 1,400,000 souls. ”

“ All the grand duchesses used to keep diaries, but before their departure from Tobolsk, Maria and Anastasia destroyed theirs.
I read in a newspaper that while the emperor was in prison in Yekaterinburg somebody came to him and offered to save him, on certain conditions. After the emperor learned that the man was sent by the Emperor Wilhelm, he refused to parley with him. I can not say from whence the Letts came who arrived at Tobolsk. But I draw your attention to the fact that the Lett detachment which took the children from Tobolsk, never returned. Hohriakoff also failed to return. ”

“ A monument at Tobolsk commemorates his deeds.
No leader rose to fill Yermak’s place, and the Russians became divided into several independent bands. They had the good sense not to quarrel, and remained firm in the pursuit of conquest. They pushed eastward from the Irtish and founded Tomsk in 1604. Ten years later the Tartars united and attempted to expel the Russians. They surrounded Tomsk and besieged it for a long time. Russia was then distracted by civil commotions and the war with the Poles, and could not assist the Cossacks. ”

“ It is evident that the salvation of the Family cannot come from Germany, for there would not be any place and way to take the Emperor out of Tobolsk, but by way of the Trans-Siberian,--a long journey with no possibilities of getting out of this country. The local Bolsheviki are beyond the control of the centers. ”

“ The part of the province of Tobólsk through which we traveled from Tiumén to Omsk is much more productive and prosperous than a careless observer would suppose it to be from the appearance of most of its villages. The four ókrugs, or "circles," [1] of Tiumén, Yalútorfsk, Ishím, and Tiukalínsk, through which our road lay, have an aggregate population of 650,000 and contain about 4,000,000 acres of cultivated land. The peasants in these circles own 1,500,000 head of live stock, and produce perhaps two-thirds of the 30,000,000 bushels of grain raised annually in the province. ”

“ The government is divided into ten districts, the chief towns of which are Tobolsk, Berezov, Ishim, Kurgan, Sugut, Tara, Turinsk, Tyukalinsk, Tyumen and Yalutorovsk. The standard of education is very low. The Ostyaks are in a very miserable condition, having come under heavy obligations to the Russian merchants and being compelled to hand over to them nearly all the produce of their hunting and fishing. The Tatar settlements are prosperous in the south, but not in the Tobolsk district, where their lands have been appropriated for the Russian settlers. ”